Photo: Danny Moloshok/Reuters
UK politicians are looking for a site for a large new car plant. According to rumors, Elon Musk may be studying the possibility of building a new Gigafactory in the country. These rumors appeared against the background of the fact that Tesla's CEO has repeatedly visited the country over the past year, staying there for several days.
The new government investment office has called on regional agencies to urgently provide potential sites for the new plant, which will provide a significant £80bn boost to the UK auto industry, sources told the Telegraph. The organ sounded out to regional authorities including Teesside and the West Midlands over potential sites covering 250 hectares at short notice.
According to information from another source, regional authorities were asked to collect and submit proposals in just 48 hours, although they usually get much more time and interaction with a potential investor. The name of the company behind the plans has not been disclosed.
Elon Musk spent two days in the UK last weekend. His plane arrived in Luton on Friday and left the country two days later on Sunday evening. It was this visit that served as the basis for the rumor. However, at the moment, no one has been able to confirm that the visit of the head of Tesla was directly related to the search for a place to build a factory for the production of cars. One should also take into account the position of Musk, who previously stated that Brexit poses too much risk for large investments in the UK.
Earlier this year, the Tesla chief also held talks with the UK government about the possibility of using his satellite Internet company, Starlink, to help roll out ultra-high-speed broadband in the most remote areas of the country. The desire to resolve this issue may also be related to his recent visit to the UK.
While the real purpose of Musk's visits to the country is unclear, the UK auto industry is now in dire need of EV battery factories more than other car factories if it wants to have a future.
© 2021, Eva Fox. All rights reserved.
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About the Author
Eva Fox
Eva Fox joined Tesmanian in 2019 to cover breaking news as an automotive journalist. The main topics that she covers are clean energy and electric vehicles. As a journalist, Eva is specialized in Tesla and topics related to the work and development of the company.
